Luka Modric has risen to the top of the heap of world soccer’s men’s players.
The Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder won FIFA’s Best Men’s Player Award for 2017-18 on Monday at a ceremony in London. Modric beat fellow finalists Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah for one of soccer’s most prestigious individual honors.
Modric was instrumental in Croatia’s improbable run to the 2018 FIFA World Cup final. He also was a key player in Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League victory, its third consecutive triumph in European soccer’s elite competition.
Modric is the first player other than Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to win FIFA’s highest individual men’s prize since Kaka in 2007. Ronaldo won in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Messi won between 2009 and 2012 and in 2015.
Modric also won the 2018 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year, becoming the first player to win those prizes and FIFA Best Men’s Player Award (or its previous incarnation) in the same year.
Brazil’s Marta, who plays club soccer in the United States for the NWSL’s Orlando Pride, captured the Best Women’s Player Award.
